Biosecurity risk material detections reported under the Australian Antarctic Program

Since 2004, scientists, staff and expeditioners on Australian Antarctic Division voyages and stations have recorded non-native invertebrates and other biosecurity risk material, such as plant matter or soil, through the environmental incident reporting system. All reports made relating to biosecurity risk material detections since 2004 were extracted from this database. These reports were in relation to the four Australian Antarctic stations (Casey, Mawson, Davis and Macquarie Island) as well as vessels and aircraft travelling to these stations, noting that some vessels were chartered from other national operators. The notes of each report were read to determine (where possible) the location and habitat (e.g. consumables, cargo) of each detection, and whether it comprised living or dead material. The year of detection was also extracted. Reports relating to biosecurity logged in the AAD's electronic incident management system were extracted into pdf format and manually entered into an Excel spreadsheet. Individual columns were used to record information on the report number, location, habitat, year, material type, and taxonomic identification where applicable. Formal identifications and/or verifications of invertebrates were made by entomologists where possible, using associated images and specimens. The data was then de-identified by removing names, precise dates and other sensitive information contained in the reports.